The University of Plymouth requires the upgrade and enhancement of its existing maritime simulation facilities supplied by Wärtsilä Voyage Oy. The procurement will deliver an upgrade of the existing Navi-Trainer Professional simulation environment from version 5.40 to version 6, ensuring continued alignment with current maritime training standards and enhanced simulation capabilities. The procurement also includes a three-year Smart Support Agreement covering technical support, software maintenance and upgrades from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2029. Support services include 24/7 online technical support, priority assistance, access to the knowledge base, remote software monitoring, software updates, annual preventative maintenance visits, training support, guaranteed response times and future software upgrades. This upgrade will maximise the value of the University's existing Wärtsilä simulation infrastructure, extend the operational life of the equipment, maintain compliance with evolving maritime training requirements and support the continued delivery of high-quality maritime education and professional training. This upgrade is part of the Office for Students Defence related skills funding.

Procurement Act 2023

Direct award The below justification set out in Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 applies to this Direct Award; Single Supplier (5)The following conditions are met in relation to the public contract— (a)due to a particular supplier having intellectual property rights or other exclusive rights, only that supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and (b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works. (6) The following conditions are met in relation to the public contract— (a)due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and (b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works. The University's maritime simulation suite is an existing Wärtsilä Voyage Oy installation comprising Navi-Trainer Professional simulators, instructor stations, Model Wizard software, bridge simulators and associated software licences. The requirement is for an upgrade of the existing proprietary simulation platform from version 5.40 to version 6 together with associated software licences, integration, commissioning and support services. The upgrade must be fully compatible with the University's existing Wärtsilä simulation infrastructure and software environment. The proprietary software, licences, source code, intellectual property rights and upgrade pathways are owned and controlled exclusively by Wärtsilä. No alternative supplier can lawfully provide the required software upgrades, licences, manufacturer-certified integration, maintenance or future support for the existing platform. Procuring an alternative system would require replacement of the University's existing simulator estate and associated retraining, resulting in disproportionate technical, operational and financial impacts. Accordingly, competition is absent for technical reasons and the contract can only be performed by Wärtsilä Voyage Oy.